A History of the Mahrattas v2.c40.50

v2.c40.50

Shortly afterwards however, in September, 1786, Lord Cornwallis, having assumed charge of the Supreme Government, addressed letters to the Peishwa and Nizam Ally, in which although he expressly intimated his determination to take no part in the war between the confederates and Tippoo Sultan, yet the state of military efficiency in which it became the immediate care of the new Governor-General to place all the Presidencies, occasioned a bustle and apparent preparation which seem to have convinced Tippoo that the designs of the English were decidedly hostile; and may not merely account for his earnestness to terminate the war with the confederates, but afford some reason for that rancorous hostility which led him to persevere in schemes for annihilating the power of the British nation in India.